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Austria and Denmark agree joint R&D vaccine fund with Israel

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What happened: The Chancellor of Austria and Prime Minister of Denmark arrived in Israel yesterday to sign a joint fund for the research, development and production of vaccines.

  • Speaking alongside Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This is a special day when two dynamic European leaders come together to Jerusalem to discuss together how we continue the battle against COVID.”
  • He added: “What we’re talking about is establishing a joint R&D fund of Israel, Austria and Denmark, and beginning joint efforts for common production of future vaccines. I think this is something that we have to do, because we’re going to probably need, I can’t say with certitude, but with very high probability, we’ll probably need protection for the future … we have to make sure that we can protect our peoples, and also help other countries and humanity at large.”
  • Kurz applauded Israel’s rollout of the vaccination, saying that “the world is looking at Israel with admiration” in showing “that it is possible to defeat the virus”.
  • Kurz also lauded Netanyahu for recognising the great danger of the pandemic in its early stages and said that the Israeli leader was “maybe the main reason why we reacted quite early in Austria”.
  • Frederiksen said Denmark and Austria were “very inspired by Israel’s ability to roll out the vaccines” for the coronavirus so efficiently and that they cannot allow themselves to be “caught off guard again”.
  • The announcement of a joint fund had elicited criticism from some EU members, who said the European system remained the best way to guarantee “solidarity” within the bloc.
Context: Israel was one of the first countries to begin a massive vaccination programme in December, after it agreed to share biomedical data with Pzifer in exchange for receiving millions of vaccine doses.

  • Around 90 per cent of eligible Israelis have either received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine or recovered from the virus.
  • Netanyahu also showed Kurz and Frederiksen how Israel’s Green Pass system works by giving them a tour of Modi’in. The system allows fully vaccinated or recovered individuals to take part in various activities that were previously restricted due to COVID-19 measures.
  • Netanyahu told Fox News yesterday: “I don’t think we’re coming out completely. We’re going to have to wear a mask for some time. But we’re behind it.”
  • However, a senior Israeli health official cautioned against believing that the pandemic was ending, telling Israeli media that new variants of the virus could disrupt Israel’s plans to quickly return to normal life.
  • Israel’s Health Ministry reported on Thursday that the number of serious COVID-19 cases had fallen below 700 for the first time since December. The ministry said 4,143 people were diagnosed on Wednesday at a rate of 5.2 per cent per tests conducted.
  • At least half of the newly diagnosed are teenagers and children, while only 5.4 per cent are over the age of 60.
  • Also yesterday, Israel began vaccinating Palestinian workers with Israeli permits in the West Bank. COGAT, the Israeli military branch responsible for civil affairs in Palestinian territories, said it had vaccinated 700 Palestinians yesterday as a trial run before beginning its main vaccination campaign on Sunday. It is expected that at least 100,000 Palestinians will receive the Moderna vaccine from Israel.

Looking ahead: Israel is aiming to complete vaccinating all adults over the age 50 by the end of March/early April and everyone over the age of 16 by early May.

  • Despite the early signs of a high rate of infection among children, school grades between 7-10 in in yellow, orange and green municipalities are set to return to school on 7 March as part of the third phase of Israel’s lockdown exit plan.
  • There is growing pressure to allow Israelis stranded abroad to return home, particularly ahead of the election. From Sunday, 3,000 Israelis will be able to enter the country without special permission from the governmental exemptions committee. There is ongoing concern that these returnees could bring new variants of the disease with them.